Over 40 years ago John Robinson's former English teacher doubted he had the ability to pass the necessary exams to become a teacher himself.

But after teaching more than 1,000 pupils and racking up 26 years as a head teacher it is fair to say those doubts were unfounded.

Mr Robinson, 63, is now approaching retirement after spending the majority of his career at Howard Primary School, in Dering Place, South Croydon .

He has come a long way since his teenage years when he originally wanted to be a sportsman of some kind after he found himself naturally excelling at sports at school.

Speaking ahead of his retirement on July 20, the father-of-two said: "I never envisioned being a teacher ever when I was at school. I failed my 11+ and my mum and dad were faced with a difficult decision of what school to send me to.

"Without being big-headed, I was really good at sport. I did county sports and things to a high level, I was an under 21 cricketer for Surrey and I was a youth player at Crystal Palace Football Club.

"But when I was 16 or 17 I was told I wasn't good enough [for Crystal Palace] so I thought I would teach the thing I love, which was sport."

Starting off at what was formerly known as Monks Hill School, Mr Robinson began as a PE teacher for two years before he had an unfortunate accident.

A South Croydon native at the time, he had to hang up his sports kit after he badly damaged the ligaments in one of his knees.

He said: "The director of education then said I should try teaching at a primary school. At first I was like a fish out of water for a year.

"Then I met someone who was the deputy head at the school where I was working and she and I team-talked and I found I really enjoyed working with primary children and it's worked from there."

As any new teacher finds in their early years, Mr Robinson admits he had teething problems with the youngsters, after being so used to teaching teens.

"It was so difficult," he said.

"It was the most difficult thing in the world. I was used to 15, 16, 17-year-olds and suddenly to go to four, five, six-year-olds - it was hard.

"My first ever primary group was a Year 3 class, so I went from a form tutor of 16-year-olds, to seven-year-olds, without any previous experience.

"For probably six months or nine months I hated it, but the head teacher there was really good and I ended up team-teaching with someone and I loved it."

You would never think Mr Robinson had initial struggles with little ones, as he is praised by staff members for his ability to give children self-belief.

Mr Robinson, who now lives in Sussex, believes there are two types of outstanding schools – and not just the ones officially rated so by Ofsted.

He said: "I think there's another type of outstanding, there's the outstanding which is how you prepare children for their life and I think we're very good at that.

"We bring children on who believe in themselves, who will stand up and talk to people. We've had a boy stand in front of 12,000 people at Wembley. That's outstanding, that those children know they can make a difference.

"I think that's more important because the children who are good at academic subjects, will continue to be good at academic subjects. The ones we can push to be better at academic subjects we will continue to push, but there will always be a group of children where that just isn't right for them.

"But if you can find something that they are good at, they are the children who will grow up to make a difference.

"I was brought up with a belief that there's good in everyone, someone is good at something. One person is good at maths, one person is good at netball. If you can find that one thing that makes that child buzz, it has an effect on everything they do.

"Getting them to believe in themselves – that's outstanding."

Looking back over his long career, Mr Robinson recalls some of these outstanding moments and counts them as things he will always be proud of.

Among them, he says, is the primary school's ability to make every child succeed, even if the child has special needs or language challenges.

One of the biggest successes he says, is how of the 350 children who attend the school, 210 of them have English as a second language.

He said: "I think the thing I'll remember most are those children who are needy or need someone. I think that's been my whole persona in my whole working life, just that you can make a difference to children and families who are really vulnerable.

"We had a little boy with us with special needs and he grew up with birth defects, and all we could teach him was the wires in his brain were connected wrongly.

"No one could unpick those wires and put them right but he knew it was something in his head. But he knew that he could be good at science because it was practical,

"He wasn't going to be able to read and write properly but he was skilled in other areas. So when he went to secondary school he was able to tell them what he was good at, he was confident."

Some of Mr Robinson's tougher moments, he adds, came from when he encountered children who had difficulties.

He recalled: "I had a little boy in my class when I was teaching in secondary who had shall we say 'light fingers'.

"He was put into care for four months because of stealing and the day he was meant to come back to my school, to my class, he didn't arrive because he had been caught in someone's house at the end of the road by police.

"It was things like that that you remember. He was a little boy who just needed someone to give him care and love."

Mr Robinson says Howard Primary School's inclusive, family feel makes it a safe place for pupils to ask for the sort of help that young pupil perhaps needed.

He said: "You have children who come back to see us even when they're in their 20s and their 30s to share successes but also to share problems.

"We've had children in their teens who came back and talk to us about maybe having a tag, they will come and bare their soul with us. They say, 'I've done something silly', but this is the one safe part of their life –they won't be judged here."

These haven't been Mr Robinson's toughest moments, though.

He explained: "The hardest thing I've ever done in school was having to tell our children that one of our teachers had died - I wouldn't wish that on anyone.

"You have to have a way of telling them. They're the hardest things to tell someone – that you'll never see them again. But they're here, they're inside you, you've got the memories."

Some of these memories are on display around the school where pupils are reminded of two late staff members.

In a similar fashion, Mr Robinson hopes to build a story chair for the children, where they can enjoy reading but also remember him.

As well as the story chair, he wants to concentrate on building other things in his retirement, like a shepherd's house.

When asked what he will miss the most, Mr Robinson visibly teared up, before he said: "I will just miss everyone here. I don't want to leave the school totally, but I will miss walking through the door every day, and just having children who need you."

In his place, deputy head teacher Jackie de Saulles will take over as head teacher – a move which she is "very excited" about.

Mr Robinson said: "I no longer want to be the head teacher of this school, because I've done it for so long, and I know Jackie will be a great head.

"That was the right choice, it's what the staff, children and parents wanted. I'm really pleased. I'm leaving junior and senior staff who I know are right for this school and I couldn't be prouder of them."

*Do you know of a teacher or member of teaching staff in Croydon who is retiring this summer who deserves recognition? Let us know about them by emailing newsdesk@croydonadvertiser.co.uk